


You Should Be Here

by bilsunderooks



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Bridezilla!Percy, Ensemble Cast, Established Relationship, F/M, Perc'ahlia Festival of Happiness, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 11:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8142466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bilsunderooks/pseuds/bilsunderooks
Summary: “Who knew getting married was so hard,” Vex muses.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [walrusmaterial](https://archiveofourown.org/users/walrusmaterial/gifts).



> Response for [taliesinjaffeswetdream's](http://taliesinjaffeswetdream.tumblr.com) prompt for the Perc'ahlia Festival of Happiness. 
> 
> Betaed by the wonderful [vcxahlia!](http://vcxahlia.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Full details of the prompt can be found at the end of the fic, and hope you all enjoy!

Vex wakes up a tangled pretzel in her sheets with a line of hickeys running down her thighs, one arm hanging off the bed, and Percy bent over the writing desk. His white sleeping shirt is hastily thrown on and dipping beyond his collarbones, and he is writing furiously over thick parchments, rows and rows of looped and curling ink. Vex is too tired and sore to do more than grunt at him.

It’s cold in the room, few hours of sunrise peeking through the drapes, and Vex wants nothing more than to snuggle down with her new fiance running a hand down her spine and sighing into her ear. The fat diamond resting on her finger snags delightfully on the sheets and in her hair when she tries to comb it free from its crazy sex nest.

“Darling, come back to bed. My feet are cold,” she pouts.

“In a minute,” he says, flashing a distracted smile at her. “I just have to get this down while I remember.”

“Get what down?” She stretches her arms and lower back, hoping it will entice him enough to drop his quill. It doesn’t. His glasses wink in the early sun, his face glowing with the smile that has transformed the lines of his eyes and mouth. His shoulders look light, and she realises that his hands are shaking so badly he can’t maintain his grip on the quill.

_ He looks happy, _ she muses, feels the thought settle into her heart as a heavy warmth running into her shoulder blades and out like wings. She thinks of a wizened tree, a cracked bark face, twigs for hands reaching out for her and asking for her heart, for her to say yes. She is so glad she saved her yes for him.

“All the stuff we need for the wedding. Budgeting, flowers, the guest list, dresses, banners, food, seating arrangements. Oh, and we need to figure out who will officiate and if we can convince Grog to wear a tie.” He pauses then turns to her, eyes devouring her form for a moment before shaking his head and asking, “Do you want a summer or winter wedding?”

“Summer sounds good,” she says automatically, smiling at the boyish grin that crosses his face. “Outside near the trees and the cute duck pond we like to walk to? Where the rhododendron is?” 

“That sounds doable,” he says., “I’ll just make sure to note down that we need to build a gazebo.”

“Oh good,” she sighs into her pillow. “You do that. Organise away, I’m going back to sleep.”

* * *

In retrospect, that was probably the wrong thing to say.

Of course, she doesn’t realise it until three weeks pass and Percy reveals that he has already planned the colour scheme for the wedding, the bridesmaid’s dresses, and appoints Pike officiator on the spot the day they officially announce it to the rest of Vox Machina.

“I just don’t know what to say,” Pike says, misty-eyed, while Keyleth has spasms of joy over Vex’s engagement ring and Grog’s hug threatens to break Percy’s spine, “I can’t believe it, I’m so happy for both of you, just oh my god.”

“I would have asked you to be a bridesmaid,” Vex says, “In fact, I wanted you to be joint maid of honour with Keyleth, but Percy vetoed it.”

“We do have an official and talented cleric as family, I don’t see why that’s a bad idea,” Scanlan says as he claps Percy’s calf. “About time you crazy kids tied the knot.”

“Thank you, Scanlan,” Percy wheezes out. Grog simply hands him over to be hugged by a crying Keyleth.

Vax sneaks up to hug Vex but whispers to her ear, “Please tell me you’re not pregnant. I wouldn’t know what to do with two happy surprises in one day.”

“Yes, that permanent smile would devastate your brooding ego,” Vex teases, but reassures him that she’s not, only because Vax freezes so rigidly she’s worried he might have a heart attack.

“I don’t think the world is ready for a fussing father-to-be as well as a de Rolo bridezilla,” Vax laughs into her shoulder. Percy shoots them a glare from over Keyleth’s head, even though there’s no possible way for his human ears to have caught that.

“He’s not that bad,” she dismisses and Vax leans back to give her a pointed look.

“I just got told that Cassandra is best man because I’m walking you down the aisle. He didn’t even ask me. And he already has my outfit colours picked out,” he complains.

Vex swallows the lump around her throat and hides her face into his neck, “He’s just really well prepared for the eventuality that I’ll trip over going down the aisle.”

“As if I wouldn’t catch you,” Vax says. “I’m so fucking happy you’re happy. You are, aren’t you?”

She pulls back and cups his face in her hands, kissing his forehead. “Yeah, I really fucking am.”

Grog then interrupts them by sweeping them both up into his arms, trying to crush their chests and getting fat goliath tears on their clothes.Vex thinks, dizzily, that she could burst into a thousand bubbles she’s so happy.

* * *

Two weeks later and Vex is firing arrow after arrow into a target. Percy is somewhere in the castle picking patterns and grilling Pike for wedding speeches. Vex has already written her vows, told Percy, and watched with some measure of amused wonder when his face turned ashen and he let out a string of horrified whispering that sounded like, “The  _ vows _ .” 

She hasn’t seen Scanlan for a week because he refuses to talk with Percy anymore about the song list. Grog has claimed beverage tester and absconded to the cellar with Zahra and Kash, entertaining some surprise visits from Pike and Jarrett. If asked, Cassandra sighs and says, “Julius was a lot worse,” before running interference with Percy and his gazebo builders. 

An arrow lands with a dull thud in the target, and Cordell claps from the parapet. 

“Sister,” Vax says from behind her, and she jumps a foot in the air.

“Bloody hell, you have got to stop that,” she gasps, kicking at his shins which he dodges effortlessly. 

“Percy has to be stopped,” he says, grabbing her arms., “He wants me to wear  _ colours  _ to your wedding.”

“Oh no, what a terror,” she mocks before slinging her bow over her shoulder., “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“ _ Something _ ,” Vax moans. “Anything? The man is a monster.”

Vex laughs. “What clued you in? The chandelier designs or the colour coded seating arrangements?” They walk up to the parapet, both waving at Cordell as they lean on the wall, elbows resting on the edge as they enclose each other from the world like bookends.

“Are sure it’s not terrifying you? To have no control over your own wedding?” There is a furrow growing between his eyes. She stops to consider the worried line of his mouth, stretched raw by his teeth. 

“Well, not really?” She finally shrugs. “To be honest, I kind of thought I would be bothered, but ever since Percy took charge, it’s been rather nice? He’s occupied, it distracts him, and he’s always been a bit of a control freak. Weirdly, him freaking out is actually stopping me from freaking out about becoming his- well, that. And I’ve found that there is a bonus to all this.”

“And what’s that?”

“I get whatever I want. It doesn’t matter if Percy is organising and paying for it all, he tells me all the big decisions and doesn’t sign off unless I give the say so. He is giving me my dream wedding brother, with just a little fuss over the details because it suits his idea of family tradition. And besides,” she shifts closer, conspiring, “don’t you think Percival is devastatingly attractive this way?”

“I’m not saying anything, and the less I know about your night life the better,” Vax says, shuddering, but he slings an arm around her shoulder and draws her closer to the heat of his body. “Are you sure, Stubby?” he asks, playing with her hair like he did when he was five and asked mother if he could grow out his own.

“It’ll be fine. As long as Percy keeps an eye on prices, and always asks me about what I want, I’m perfectly happy to let him micromanage every detail of this wedding down to the last napkin.” She grins before ducking from his embrace, then whips her bow up, aims, and fires another arrow. It hits dead centre, even from this angle.

“He asked me to choose between three different shades of lilac,” Vax says, almost marveling. “I couldn’t even tell the difference between them all.” 

“I just play eeny miny mo,” Vex says happily.

Vax shot her a dark look, suddenly understanding. “He bribed you didn’t he?” 

“Maybe,” Vex smiles to herself. The air is starting to warm with the crisp hues of spring. Soon the bluebells will appear in a shock of blue glory to crest in peaceful waves through the woods and over the hills to the city walls.

“What the hell with, Vex’ahlia?” Vax asks, rubbing his hand through his face.

Vex hums as the distant squelch of Trinket flopping around in the mud outside the corridor leading to the kitchens and Laina’s complaints reach her ears.

“How does Trinket the ring bear-er sound to you?” 

* * *

A month after that, Percy is knocking on her study door. It’s not her study, exactly, just one of the higher towers in the north facing side of the castle. The room is full of comfy seats and pillows and a large kit she uses to restring her bow and make her own arrows. She comes here when she wants to see the forest and hear the distant creek of trees, smell the faint scent of pine and observe the moonlight washing over the canopy until the budding leaves and branches glitter like stars. 

Percy has shadows under his eyes, but nothing too stark. When he brushes his hand along her cheek in a silent hello he’s warm and comfortable, far removed from the bustle of wedding preparations. She has grown to love these quiet nights, smug with the day’s accomplished checklist, when he relearns how to cut loose and remember to be with her, that he still has a partner in all this waiting for him to stop being an overbearing idiot. 

She kisses his wrist and listens to him hum before he clears his throat. “We need to talk,” he says before bringing his unoccupied hand up to show the bottle of an expensive wine, one she knows came from his mother’s secret vault that had been missed by the Briarwoods.

“About?” She asks, warily.

He sets the bottle down with an ominous thud. “The guest list has been noted down, revised, and revised again. Eventually I decided I couldn’t put it off anymore-”

“As supposed to the hundred and one things you’ve already put off?” she interrupts, lips curling into a smile. He sighs, rueful.

“- And I want to ask you what your plans are concerning your father coming to our wedding day.”

Vex stares. Then she grabs the bottle, uncorks the lid and takes three long gulps. Percy watches, face screwed up in sympathy.

“I’ll just keep talking ideas and you can shoot them down with yes or no while you drink, that fair?” he says and she nods frantically, coughing into her wrist.

“Vax will be walking you down the aisle.” He says, like he’s trying to rip off a bandage.

“God, yes, already sorted.” 

“Velora and Devana are invited.”

“Yes.”

“Syldor is invited but has a seat at the back of the room, is at the children’s table for the reception, and has to sleep at the stables.”

“Oh god, maybe?”

“And is required to wear a silly hat as per Scanlan’s choosing.”

“Fuck,  _ yes. _ ”

And so on, until the inside of the bottle is lined with scarlet dregs.

“I love you so much,” she says later, words slurred and garbled. Her face is smushed into his shoulder as he piggybacks her to their bedroom, where he will undress her and tuck her into his arm while pressing loving kisses into her temple. “No really, I do, I’m so happy you’re marrying me and will be bound as my shield for when my father comes to kill me for sullying the line further.”

“I have Pike and Kash on standby to resurrect you and the papers signed for war should that happen,” he says, yawning. “Velora and Devana have their own rooms prepared.”

“Best husband ever.”

“I know, dear. Get some sleep.”

* * *

Trying on dresses is a bit of a relief only because Percy refuses to see Vex in her wedding gown before the big day. He has taken to hiding behind a partially open door blocked by one of the changing screens and getting paperwork done while they all try on their outfits. Vex takes one look at herself in her wedding gown - a lovely blue silk with a deep heart shaped neckline and a spill of chiffon from her waist, embroidered de Rolo crests and arrows lining the bottom - and promptly bursts into tears.

Vex is huffing and blowing her nose into a handkerchief that was hastily supplied by Keyleth when Scanlan, Grog, and Vax bounce into the room, pale and queasy from an afternoon trying all the dishes for the reception.

All three stop dead when they are confronted by Keyleth, Pike, Zahra, Cassandra, and Gilmore in various stages of sobbing while handing out handkerchiefs to each other. 

Kash sports red eyes and a blocked nose as he explains, “Been like this for a good hour.” 

Vax nods as he takes in his sister in her wedding dress and breathes, “You look beautiful.”

“I know right?” Vex wails. “I look like mother.”

“You really do,” Vax replies around her hiccups, sounding a little choked up himself. 

“Do you think she’d-?” 

“Yeah, yeah, sis, she’d be so proud.”

“Cassandra gave Vex her mother’s necklace,” Keyleth pipes up, clutching at Percy’s arm around the screen. 

“Percy is a very lucky man,” Grog then says, before he starts sniffing and lifts Pike up to his shoulder to cover his own episode.

“I can’t believe we’re all sobbing like babies over this,” Cassandra says.

Scanlan just rolls his eyes, grinning. “Wedding blues. Get the emotions out now so they don’t put a literal dampener on the big day.”

“Well I for one think it's a fine way to healthily purge the last few years from our backs,” Gilmore says, daintily dabbing at his eyes with a gorgeous green and purple silk handkerchief while Zahra says, “That’s not an actual thing is it?” and Scanlan winks at her.

Percy says through the screen, “It’s probably not, but can everyone just make sure they don’t get tears on the fabric, I really don’t want to pay to replace it.”

“Shut up, Percival,” they all say, before it devolves into laughter and a tumble of well loved stories of Vox Machina adventures and the misadventures of those left behind at Whitestone. Vex’s wine glass is topped up and she snuggles into Zahra’s arms while Gilmore conjures purple illusions depicting exaggerated features of Thordak, basilisks, Victor, and the sprawling fields of Tal’ Dorei, its paths well trodden.

* * *

Despite Percy’s deadly attractive organisational spree there comes a time where even Vex has to call quits. 

When he starts to adopt a red-eyed, haggard expression, smoke curling dangerously around his ears, nails bitten to bloody stumps, all while ranting about the rehearsal dinner schedules and the wrong-wine-glass-shipment catastrophe, Grog and Vax knock him out with a careful tap to the back of the head and Vex takes off with Trinket for a much needed break in the woods. She calls it her pre-bachelorette party.

After two hours of running with Trinket - flitting between trees, leaping over fallen logs, smearing her clothes with grass stains and mud and experiencing a hairy moment where she nearly fell into a stream - she collapses as a panting pile in a small clearing. Trinket lumbers over and flops down next to her, resting his head on her stomach and growling softly. She feels the mud press into her fingers, tilts her head back to expose her throat to the cool air, syncs her breathing with the rustle of leaves. 

“Who knew getting married was so hard,” Vex muses. The stars refuse to reply, and she is left staring at the branches, trying to read the circumference of the world in their twisting fingers as she sinks into a meditative peace. 

She takes a bath when she gets home another four hours later, limbs and joints packed with jelly and unsteady as a colt. She slips into bed and curls around a snoring Percy, chest to back, knees finding soft skin at the back of his thighs. She kisses the back of his neck.

“You’re ridiculous,” she tells him, “And a very stubborn man.”

He snorts awake. “Pot, kettle,” he murmurs, shifting down until she can wrap an arm over a pale shoulder. He grabs onto her wrist and pulls her closer, accepting his role as little spoon with familiar ease. “I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

“I’m behaving like a right maniac aren’t I?”

“No more so than usual, dear,” she admits. He chuckles, extending his arm to rub circles into her thigh, slung over his waist. “Do you need help?”

“No,” he says, and even as she waits he repeats it, which is enough for now. “I want to make sure it’s perfect. Not just for me.” He shifts his head to peer up at her. “You’ll tell me if you’re unhappy with something, right?”

“Hey, I get to fly down to the ceremony on my broom,” she says, kissing his neck again, “That’ll have to do for me.”

“Will this as well?” Percy says, wriggling again to free his other arm, twisting onto his back so he can show her the two rings nestled in the lines of his palm. “Just finished them this morning. Partially to blame for my recent lack of sleep.” He clears his throat, watching her for any signs of distaste. “Do you like them?”

Vex touches one of the white gold bands, reverent. “They’re perfect,” she croaks out. 

“Well that’s good,” Percy barely whispers, huffing in relief and surprise when Vex rises up and straddles his hips, “I wasn’t sure, you hated the family engagement ring-”

“Only because it gets caught on everything and I’m bloody scared about breaking it,” she reminds him, reaching down to ruck up the hem of her night dress to pull it over her head, careful to keep the movement slow, precise, sensuous. “This will do very nicely.”

* * *

The wedding day comes crisp and clean with the sky icy and full of cloud wisps. Sunflowers line pathways leading to Whitestone’s entrances, gold and blue wreaths and banners are strewn artfully around the corridors and main hall, bustling servants and friends adding the final touches to arrangements and flowers. And Percy is having a meltdown in the library.

It’s Pike who comes knocking on Vex’s study door. Vex, in her nightgown with her hair pinned up in elegant curls and blue feathers (courtesy of Zahra and Keyleth), lips painted and eyelids dusted in blue, opens her door while fixing her mother’s earrings into her earlobes. Pike’s cheeks are pink with exasperation, a crow hanging on her forearm, and a crumpled letter in hand.

“Percy just found this ten minutes ago,” she says, handing it to Vex. “I’m so sorry, but Vax can’t come. The Raven Queen sent for him last night with a mission.”

“I see,” Vex says, taking the letter and scanning over her brother’s familiar scrawl, no doubt scribbled hastily the night before. Vex takes thirty seconds to feel crushed about it, before she collects herself and sends a few mental swear words at the Raven Queen. Mustering a smile she says, “And he couldn’t slide it under my door. Coward. I should have chained him down last night.” She sobers when she reads about Rakshasa and Stone Giants patrolling the Alabaster Sierras, “Ok, fair, I don’t think Percy would have taken too kindly to having the Rakshasa back in Whitestone on our wedding day.”

“He’s not taking it too well now,” Pike admits and Vex groans.

“He’s in the library isn’t he?”

“Yeah. You might want to-”

“Yeah.” She moves out into the hall except Pike grabs her hand and hauls her back with some considerable strength. She stumbles in with an undignified squawk.

“Screw Percy though,” Pike says, striding forward to grab Vex’s wedding dress and holding it high above her head, the ends still trailing on the floor, “This is  _ your _ wedding day too. If you have to deal with his hyper-organisational skills and tantrums then you can at least do it while looking beautiful. Well,” she blushes, “more beautiful than you are on a regular day,”

Vex wipes at her eyes. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

The door is unlocked when she gets there. Scanlan and Grog are playing cards while sitting on the ground of the corridor. Both look up when they see her and, after a minute of staring in awe, stick their thumbs to the door. Vex sighs and holds out her hand to Scanlan. 

“Ok, ok,” he grumbles as he fishes his money pouch out of his blue jacket and counts out ten gold. She thanks him before grudgingly handing the money to Grog. “For the record I think we should feel a little guilty that we betted on the Perzilla breakdown.”

“Nah,” Grog tells Scanlan. “Wouldn’t be us if we didn’t.” He hands her back the pouch. “Happy Wedding Day.”

“How long has he been in there?” Vex asks, amused.

“Half an hour. I think he stopped muttering to himself five minutes ago. Cassandra gave up and went to mediate,” Scanlan says as he heaves himself up. “For the record, I think he’s mostly doing ok.” He reaches up and takes her hand to kiss it. “Go get him.”

“See you at the ceremony, I’ll save you an ale,” Grog adds, before he also kisses her, clumsy, on the forehead.

“See you later, darlings. And leave the food alone,” she warns as they scoot down the corridor, waving and grinning as they go. She takes a moment to collect herself, smooth her hands down the fine blue silk and mess with a curl behind her ear, before she knocks the door.

“Percy?” she calls out when she twists the handle. There is a dull thud and she barely pushes open a crack before the door is slammed closed. She jumps back then bends down to free her dagger from the slit in the blue fabric that exposes a knee.

“No, no, don’t come in!” Percy yells through the door. “I’m sorry Vex, but things have already gone tits up and I’d like to manage at least some of the mess!”

“Percival, what on earth,” she pounds her fist at the wood, “Let me in!”

“No!”

“Percy, I swear if you’ve gotten cold feet on me-”

“I  _ haven’t _ , no I promise you, I just-” he protests. She can imagine him rubbing at his hair vigorously, and despairs over the possibility that he will be bald and sulky when she eventually drags him to the ceremony. 

Vex crosses her arms, knife still clutched in her hand. “Percy. Open the door.”

“Vex, please.”

“Open the door or I will get Trinket to cannonball through it.” What is it with this family and doors, she fumes to herself.   
  
Percy splutters, then hisses, “This door has been here for eight de Rolo generations, it’s worth is immeasurable. You wouldn’t dare.”

Vex snorts. “Then come out and I won’t have to!”

“I can’t, the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride on the wedding day,” he moans, and there is another thump behind the door. He is probably rearranging the history books in the library, first alphabetically, then in order of height.

“Is  _ that _ what this is about?” she yells, incredulous.

“It’s tradition!”

“Percy,” she starts, then bites her inner cheek. She draws in a breath before she leans against the door, her shoulder pressed to the wood as her bare shoulders touch the stone archway. Softly, with enough steel for him to take her seriously, she says, “Percival, love. I have kept quiet for the last few months because I honestly believed that you had everything under control. I do know that you like to be fussy, and want to have everything done properly; I wouldn’t be marrying you if I didn’t both like and get exasperated by all those things. But I can’t stand by anymore and watch you stress yourself into a panic attack. Talk to me,” she adds, “tell me what is bothering you so badly. Maybe it might help?”

“Vex. I can’t, I’m not,” he frets.

“There has to be a reason for you to be going off the bend like this,” she says, pleading. “Just please, if we’re to be husband and wife, we need to at least be a little honest with each other. Call it a marital trial run?”

There is a pause. Then he says, sounding very small, “I just wanted everything to go smoothly. God knows everything we try to plan goes horribly wrong. I thought, if I got everything down, got it all prepared, then no dragons will appear, no ghosts claiming revenge. No last minute saving the world scenarios to ruin our wedding day. And I,” he clears his throat, “wanted it to be perfect for you. God knows you deserve the best, and I am still, after all these years trying to- to be the best man possible for you. Of course, you knew that. 

“You have done so much for me, and I love you for it. I love you so much. I guess all this indicates a certain amount of debt I still feel towards you, Vex’ahlia. Enough to want to plan your wedding for you. I considered it a great privilege to both be marrying you and taking responsibility for all the stupid trappings and finery that bore you.” There is a slight tap on the door, the smallest drag of fingers running through the grain, as if he is trying to touch her cheek through the barrier he has yet again (if unintentionally) thrown up between them. “I guess I’ve been a bit silly going overboard, haven’t I? So much for best husband ever.”

“I don’t know. You’re not my husband yet, there’s still years to prove me wrong,” she says and when he laughs she punches the air a little in triumph. Score one for her.

“No. No, I suppose you’re right. Is it alright to admit that I still think I’m dreaming? That this day can’t possibly be happening to me?”

“You do still know how to say the sappiest things darling,” she says, and if it comes out a little bashful she doesn’t care. “Do you feel better?”

“A little,” he admits. 

“Enough to come out?”

“Um. Not really? I feel a bit of a fool now,” he says, wincing. She groans.

“Well. I’m just going to have to get the big guns out,” she says to herself.

“What was that?” 

Vex ignores him. “Darling, if you come out of the room I’ll let you take my garter off with the gun you have stashed in our room,” she calls out.

There is another thud, a hollow sound coming from the door this time. She really hopes he caused himself a head injury.

“No, my god Vex, I keep telling you I have not been taking my guns into our bed chamber,” Percy protests, voice unnaturally high. 

“Are you sure? Because I swear that mattress is a little happier than you are to see me naked.”

“There’s  _ nothing  _ wrong with the mattress.”

“I have massive knots in my back! Knots that even Trinket can’t get out! Oh, idea, you come out, get married to me, and I’ll give you massages for a month.”

“What the- No.”

“Four months.”

“You do remember that you give the worst massages? You’ll have to send in Trinket instead and you said you would stop all the bear hair getting into the room.”

“I did, we’ve been hair free for a good while now!”

“Only because his shedding season hasn’t started.”

“I will train your sodding guards.”

“You hate training them, and they’re too in awe of you to be of any use during the sessions.”

“I’ll snog Jarrett!” Just then a servant comes around the corner, sees Vex shouting at Percy through the door, and after making brief eye contact with Vex takes an about turn and scuttles off around the corner, no doubt to spread to gossip to the other servants.

“Good luck fighting off Gilmore  _ and _ Vax,” Percy says airily. Vex resists the urge to stomp her feet.

“I’ll flash my tits at Victor.” 

“Vex, really.”

“You’re right that was a little too much. Will you come out now so I don’t have to do something drastic and possibly very very dangerous?”

“I’m sorry dear,  I’m afraid my arch foe, the door, has resurfaced and I’m finding it dreadfully difficult to open it right now,” Percy fires back, sarcastic, before he adds hurriedly, “please remember your harness this time.”   


“Damn it, Percy, you’re just being a stubborn arse now!” Vex shouts and bangs her fist on the door.

She is just about to shove her knife into the wood in a fit of temper when Keyleth pokes her head around the corner, fine white flowers woven into her hair as it almost trails the ground. “Hey Vex how’s it going?” she says, chipper.

“Wonderful, Percy is still acting like an asshole,” she says, rolling her eyes as Keyleth giggles, luminous and a little flushed from drink.

“Oh, that’s good, that’s good. Um, I should warn you though, Grog has broken into the kitchen and now we can’t find him or half of the reception platters.”

Vex winces. “Oh dear. The fish ones?”   


Keyleth hesitates. “Yeah.”

“Oh thank god, that stuff is disgusting.” 

“I know! I really think it’s a rich people thing to have those ones. Will you be done soon?” Keyleth says, hopeful and with a few glances towards the door.

“Give us about five minutes dear,” Vex offers, glaring at the wood, “We’ll be reaching a compromise soon or someone is going to lose a few appendages.”

“Oh great, well good luck bye!” Keyleth replies quickly before she vanishes again.

Vex turns back to the door, cracking her fingers. “Honestly. The cold feet act is never fun darling, I refuse to have the groom steal all the spotlight from me! It’s bad enough that my brooding idiot brother is already doing it and has apparently infected my soon to be husband with broodiness!”

“I do not brood!” Percy calls back, indignant, and Vex is going to hold this over his head for the next five years.

Going for the kill she fires out, “I’m pregnant!” 

There is an almighty crash and she jumps again when the door flings open to expose Percy, disheveled in his fancy white shirt, with a hand clapped over his eyes.

“You’re  _ what? _ ” He gasps and Vex starts laughing.

“Well look what we have here?” She giggles. “I really didn’t expect  _ that  _ to work. And no dear,” she adds before he can pale to the colour of bone or do something ludicrous like faint, “I’m not. I’m sorry to scare you.”

“It’s alright,” he says, a little shaky. 

“Come on. Grog has eaten the fish platters and if we hurry we might stop him and Scanlan from eating the cake and drinking all my wine,” she tells him, snagging his free arm to interlock their elbows in a well-practiced movement that he complies to automatically, for now a little speechless and a lot nervous. He is freshly shaven, still smells of the soap, and has trimmed his nails for their big day. 

“Yes, dear.”

Together, they take the long way through their castle with his eyes still covered, chatting aimlessly about future plans for Whitestone, their honeymoon to Ank’Harel. Their heads are close together, her breasts flushed on his forearm, his hand playing with her fingers, and if she ignored her wedding dress and his expensive trousers it could just be another day in Whitestone.

“Good thing about the fish platters, I thought they were disgusting,” he adds halfway through their walk, a mischievous glimmer under his hand and mirth playing around his mouth. Vex punches him hard in the arm because he is a right bastard. And deserves more than ten years of torment from her.

* * *

 

Despite the hiccups, the wedding is absolutely perfect. 

She walks down the aisle herself. Slowly, as if savouring the way her dress brushes past the rose petals on the ground; the admiring sighs of all the guests; Trinket ambling to Grog with a pillow stuck haphazardly to his polished armour and one blue ribbon on his ear; the empty chairs reserved for Tiberius and her mother, the de Rolo family; her friends and family’s crazy wide smiles; Keyleth’s flower crowns on everyone’s head; the way her heart thumps like crazy with every step she takes. If there are tears from her guests she tries not to notice. 

Framed in an arch of yellow roses hung on the gazebo’s roof, Percy is handsome in his blue coat and gold trimming. He stands taller, smiles wider, looking younger, freer, than he ever has. His eyes are stunningly blue and watery, and don’t leave her face for a second.

Pike is beaming at them. She clears her throat and says hi when Vex approaches and takes Percy’s hand. It trembles under hers.

“Hi,” she whispers.

“Hi,” he says back, voice thick.

“Nice to see you conquered that door.”

“I had some help from a woman far wiser than I,” he says, chagrin flaring along his cheeks.

“Lucky for you,” she says, yet another shared secret that sits comfortably between them, and they’re off.

When Pike is halfway through the service Vex happens to glance over at the door to the castle, teeth sinking into her bottom lip. Because he notices everything, Percy squeezes her fingers in reassurance, a knowing smile in place. She smiles back in apology, tries to pay attention but the happiness that is filling her chest carries a sweet ache that tremors in the air.

However, out of the corner of her eye a figure sneaks his way past the tree line, walks around the perimeter of the gazebo, emerges to kiss Keyleth on the temple, and settles by Grog’s right near the staircase. He sends Vex a sheepish look, and there is a streak of blood under one nostril, but he’s here, he’s actually here.

She starts to smile crazily, heart once more fizzing over, and her eyes sting hot. Vax is wearing his work cape, however she notices that the usually thick and purple velvet that whispered on the ground and had a collar covered in dark feathers high enough to reach halfway up his ears has undergone a drastic change.

The velvet was now a rich gold with an orange sheen that seems to glitter in the sun, white and gold feathers adorned in his collar, another blue one in his hair. His black leather armour is now a rich blue that accentuates his sharp chest and lithe frame. He shifts awkwardly as if uncomfortable in the outfit, fabric pinching in places he is not yet used to, but he is smiling widely, winking at her.

She glances at Percy, who just rolls his eyes.

“I suppose it’s better than the black,” he allows, also winking, and she discretely kicks his shin again because he deserves it; because she is wearing a dress and her brother made it to her wedding; because everyone she loves that is alive is here to share this day; because this is the man she has decided to marry. God help her, he is ridiculous and fussy and arrogant and proper and she loves him so much she can’t breathe.

* * *

The reception is an unmitigated disaster.

It wouldn’t be them if it wasn’t, and somehow it’s all the more perfect for it.

**Author's Note:**

> The exact prompt was:
> 
> You should be here: Vax misses Percy and Vex's wedding, maybe on official business for the Raven Queen which cannot be postponed, or just because he doesn't want to be there and watch that. Bridezilla!Percy is a mess because this means that their wedding will not go according to plan, and Vex is there on the other side of the door (because he shouldn't see the bride before the wedding, and also because DOORS) to talk him down, because her broody brother and broody future husband are not going to ruin their big day! Bonus points if she makes extra silly arguments for him to come out of his room, and Vax shows up anyway in the end, in a most interesting and flavorful cloak that just makes Percy roll his eyes.
> 
> A shameless How I Met Your Mother reference was thrown in here. Also it occurs to me that everyone cries a lot in this fic like they're all set in a late eighteenth/ early nineteenth century sentimental novel. I blame it on my constant listening to the Forrest Gump original motion picture score (and episode 68).


End file.
